Iran reports highest daily COVID-19 cases, deaths

Iran on Monday registered 486 daily deaths over COVID-19 and 13,053 new cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily figures since the outbreak of the disease in the country on February 19.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily briefing that 3,133 of the newly infected patients were hospitalized.

The total number of confirmed cases has reached 775,121 in Iran, where the epidemic has by now claimed 41,979 lives, said Lari.

The health official added that a total of 564,699 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from hospitals, with 5,677 in critical condition and still in intensive care units.

As of Monday, 5,545,444 laboratory tests for the novel coronavirus have been carried out in Iran, according to the spokeswoman.

The risk of infection is currently high in 27 Iranian provinces, she said.

On Saturday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced new restrictions to be implemented in more than 100 cities across the country, seeking to deal with the current surge of the outbreak.